Imoudu’s official biographer, Baba Omojola Oluwide, wrote that Imoudu had always insisted that he had never made any strike in his life. That he: “only watched the workers’ mood and by constant contacts at the factory floor, at the district meetings, in public statements and mass rallies, introduced gradual mobilisation tactics to entice the bystanders to the picket line and involve other non-working class forces to sympathise with the workers.
Michael Imoudu, doubtlessly, ignited the 1945 General Strike at a time when the leaders of the labour movement argued that the strike was “ill-timed”. But Imoudu himself was prompted by the Lagos society to make the strike.
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Lagos – the capital city of colonial Nigeria – was the hotbed of the strike movement. Its workers and other radical social and political forces created the political and psychological atmosphere that made opposition to the colonial authorities not only legitimate but also glorious.
In fact, Lagos workers started fertilising the grounds for a general strike in 1943. That was when Imoudu was arrested, detained, imprisoned, and exiled to Benin city, from where he was banished to Auchi.
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They held that Imoudu was unreasonably being victimised for the struggle he led to increase wages and grant workers a cost of living allowance (COLA) the previous year.
So, when the ultimatum for the strike was issued by the African Civil Service Technical Workers’ Union (ACSTWU), the nationalist press gave it nationwide publicity.
In addition, they strongly criticised the discriminatory increases in wages and cost of living allowance (COLA), and encouraged workers to justly demand for their increases.
Senior staff organisations, including the Civil Service Union (CSU), the Committee of Africans holding European Appointments (CAHSA), the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT), and the Amalgamated Union of Mercantile Workers (AUMW) supported the demands of the ACSTWU.
The publicity given by the press, especially The West African Pilot and Daily Comet, was so successful that other social forces within and outside Lagos looked forward to the strike. These forces, in fact, began mobilising and organising for the strike.
Lagos workers insisted that whatever the excesses and limitations of Imoudu, he did not deserve the treatment and punishment by the government. They complained bitterly about how Imoudu and his family were left with no means of livelihood.
One of the editions of the Railway Workers’ Union (RWU) magazine, The Nigerian Railway Man captured all these in a poem by C. Enitan Brown:
1. Do you still receive your COLA?
Do you still receive your salary?
I am deprived of both.
2. Summary dismissal cancels my pension.
Deportation opens up new avenues
To new mode of employing my mind and time.
3. Never have I been blind
To my shortcomings – and who is perfect?
(Except my Heavenly Father whom I serve)
4. My body needs food and clothing
My mind needs constant cultivation,
My soul needs further development.
5. Thanks to the loyal members of my union,
My needs number One are greatly reduced;
But one tree does not make a forest.
6. I do not beg for it;
I claim your financial support,
Every worker in the Country.
7. I spoke and made known your desires,
Your feelings I interpreted
To the Governor and the governed.
8. I am here at Auchi
To learn how to swim
After I had bathed long
Enough in the pool,
I must return to you
For greater Service.
The poem, first, depicted government’s handling of Imoudu as amounting to killing a fly with a sledge hammer.
Secondly, that he was victimised for standing and leading workers’ struggles for improved conditions.
Thirdly, that, despite colonial victimisation, he remains an unrelenting workers’ leader.
Fourthly, that Imoudu eagerly looked forward to be freed to continue offering “greater service” to workers.
When news of Imoudu’s release from internal exile on 20 May, 1945 spread, Lagos society made “elaborate preparations” for his reception. So successful was the reception that an estimated crowd of 50,000 welcomed him.
In organising the reception, Wogu Ananaba, a labour leader of the era, wrote that workers, “as individuals and groups, took every opportunity in religious and social gatherings to convince the community at large that … Imoudu’s detention marked the peak of bondage and his release should mark the start of freedom for all.”
During the reception, Imoudu was generally portrayed as a liberator of the masses. Brown, for instance, poetised: “Man took you away to suffer, God has brought you back to prosper; Two and half years in exile, We’re sure you’re now virile To fight the cause of workers.”
Herbert Macaulay, the leading nationalist of the era, declared that the Almighty God alone should be praised for Imoudu’s release. He added that his release showed that “the liberation of this country is very near.”
Another nationalist, Nnamdi Azikiwe, orated that, “the hero of Nigerian labour will go down as a historic occasion in the annals of Nigerian trade unionism” and that Imoudu had, “paid the penalty of leadership. He trod the stony road of Golgotha. He bore the cross of Cavalry. He was crucified. He was resurrected. He has returned to us in flesh (to) lead the workers to the Promised Land.”
Responding, Imoudu said, “I have gone into exile for training. I have done very little towards trade unionism. Without the confidence of the workers, I would not have triumphed. I am prepared to die for Nigerian trade unionism, for the working class.”
The organisation of the reception and the reception itself boosted Imoudu’s personality and political credentials. Most importantly, the political and psychological atmosphere that enabled opposition to confront the government was created.
The Acting Governor confirmed the political volatility of the reception. In a secret dispatch to London, he wrote: “the mood of the people of Lagos in general is such that there are few lengths short of violence which people will go to secure greatly increased wages (and) employees of Government and the commercial firms are at present time unwilling to listen to reason.”
All these popularised and politicised the proposed 1945 General Strike. Thus, when stories went round that Bankole and his colleagues had capitulated to government to suspend the strike, “market women were part of the rowdy groups” that repudiated him on 20 June, 1945.
Bankole wrote that market women, along with workers, shouted at him, “Thief, thief, you have been bribed; the government has bribed you. Then followed the showering on me of an appreciable quantity of ‘gari’ (farina) – an act which … savoured of rank impudence.”
The popular support for the proposed 1945 General Strike, and the willingness of workers to embark on it propelled Imoudu and his colleagues to insist that the strike must proceed as planned.
Imoudu’s official biographer, Baba Omojola Oluwide, wrote that Imoudu had always insisted that he had never made any strike in his life. That he: “only watched the workers’ mood and by constant contacts at the factory floor, at the district meetings, in public statements and mass rallies, introduced gradual mobilisation tactics to entice the bystanders to the picket line and involve other non-working class forces to sympathise with the workers.
The making of the 1945 General Strike was more than Imoudu. For just, as he ignited the strike, so was he ignited by Lagos workers, women, youth and radical nationalist politicians to make the strike.
Ahmed Aminu-Ramatu Yusuf worked as deputy director, Cabinet Affairs Office, The Presidency, and retired as General Manager (Administration), Nigerian Meteorological Agency, (NiMet). Email: [email protected]
